Early deer rundown

ROA photos by Mac Arnold

Despite the sluggish deer action at Shiawassee National 

Wildlife Refuge, the woods was definitely awe-inspiring.

By Mac Arnold
ROA Editor

I'm fresh off from a four-day deer sabbatical, which included two hunts at the supposed legendary Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.

Mostly I found hunters there on a rather small parcel -- Unit No. 5 -- with does and an extremely bold button buck.

Does were good no doubt, so much so that I went out and picked up a doe tag for the a.m. hunt Saturday, Nov. 2, which I found surprisingly still available.

What wasn't so good was the weather for the first two days: rain, mist, wind and more rain.

Look, before you shout out -- "crybaby! whiner!" -- I manned up and hunted both days fairly intense but not before I picked up a field-jacket liner at Lapeer Military Surplus to use in my favorite rain coat for the evening hunt in Sanilac County, Mich. The rain held off so I was good on that one and even better warmth-wise.

For the action report, I saw deer for two of the five days I hunted spread out among Saginaw, Sanilac and St. Clair counties.

No real close calls but I watched the guy across the woods from me at Shiawassee miss a shot with his crossbow at that daring (or dopey) button. The deer bolted and stood broadside from me at 20 yards. I strained and stared but I didn't see antlers. Nor did I confirm a wound from a hit. After a couple of minutes, away it pranced into the thicket by the Cass River behind me.

It now appears to put me at the tail end of Michigan's first archery season before I can make it back out again, Nov. 13-14, because I have to work the next nine days in a row.

So it's down to the wire once again. How many times have I been here before?

I know I look bundled up like an Eskimo, but dang, it was wet and cold the second day of my Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge deer hunt.